Hisar votes may get polarised

In Jat-dominated Haryana, the one constituency that has turned into an epicentre of clear polarisation of votes—one way or the other—is Hisar.

Here, it’s a straight Jat-versus-non-Jat contest. The constituency is set to witness a defined polarisation of votes along caste lines, beyond issues of national or local importance. Even by profile of the contestants, Hisar has emerged as a key constituency ahead of polling on Thursday.

INLD candidate and fourth-generation Chautala scion Dushyant Chautala—the youngest in poll fray, having turned 26 on April 3—is pitted against torch-bearer of the Bhajan Lal family, sitting Hisar MP Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), a party born out of infighting within the Congress in 2007.

In fact, this is the only Haryana seat the Congress could not capture in the last general elections, when its candidate lost to Bishnoi.

Hisar has been represented in the Lok Sabha 10 times by a Jat candidate.

But this has polarised much of the non-Jat voters in the constituency, perhaps to the advantage of others, including the HJC-BJP candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi.
DH News Service